the stories that shaped in this week the blockade of the libyan town of bani walid group more deadly with reports of chemical weapons being used against the remaining population we bring you witness accounts from the battle scene. tens of thousands unite in the show in italy and spain calling on their governments to stop in forcing austerity measures which they call a social massacre. plus the final presidential debate between barack obama and mitt romney fails to give either to leave third party candidates defy a media blackout to suggest alternative policies.

with a note back at the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly on r.t. the apparent use of chemical weapons against civilians humanitarian crisis stranded refugees and more deaths the reality for the libyan town of bani walid this week the residents there are calling for international help as army and pro-government militias continue to shell the former gadhafi stronghold. has been gathering eyewitness accounts from the besieged town you may find some of the images in the report graphic. these are the pictures the world has chosen not to see dismembered bodies random killings dying women and children for three weeks the libyan city of bani walid has been under siege armed militia gangs patrolled the streets looting houses bulldozing properties and shooting indiscriminately if you want to you almost of. people are so concerned for the safety of their families they don't

want to be identified. it was chaotic shiling they fired at harbors and shelters indiscriminately more than two thousand families have fled seven families out of that at the moment yes they were fled to the valley but they were firing into even their now families who died in the shelling children died too they fired by women and children straight to the head it started with the order for the army to use all means necessary to rid the former gadhafi stronghold of all his supporters there were accused of kidnappings and murdering a former militia man credited with capturing the libyan leader last year i would misses and doctors on the scene say people are being fired at with gas folder shells r.t. sources report seeing militia trying to hide and remove the bodies of those killed by chemical weapons i can confirm that these militias used internationally prohibited weapons they used phosphorous bombs and nerve gas we have documented all these and videos were recorded the missiles they used on the white phosphorus

raining down from these missiles many people died without being wounded or shot they died as a result of gases the red cross is to me it's more than twenty five thousand people have so far been made homeless with fiji's who in the confusion of the past few days trying to return home after the army announced the city had fallen and they're now stranded on the desert highway in fear and panic look at this. this is good this gun and this be able to know this thing now why you don't know one week now this neighborhood outside and didn't know what they were doing when i was living when anything when we're in one of the government. i so explosions and rockets of our heads i saw the dad. but the general national council denies the killings despite the evidence to the contrary where the government for third. place where i would go of course there will be. small mistakes

but the whole big sort of. thing is being better for the. taking care of all the family and it's not only the libyan authorities that are in denial western governments and mainstream media have also chosen to be silent prompting the charge of double standards to be leveled at them let's think back to every twenty alone we couldn't pick a newspaper in the u.k. or us or put on the b.b.c. or c.n.n. without hearing about what was going to be a humanitarian disaster. killing lots of people and today the situation only really much worse you've got a humanitarian catastrophe taking place we've got massacres going on at the moment and. that's complete silence here the chaotic scenes of a throwback to the long running rivalry between wizards of bani walid and misrata a city khadafi laid siege to they also show the weakness of the new government's authority over former rebel militias which oh it illegal but essentially do what

they like to all power so it's a leech is a message to all of them across libya wherever they are whoever you are and however strong you are and whoever your backers are the revolution should win. it's a year since independence came to this oil rich country but little seems to have changed for ordinary libyans many of the crimes gadhafi was accused of are now being laid at the foot of the general national council a reminder that for many the arab spring turned out to be a very cold winter. russia has called on the u.n. security council to urge the libyan authorities to resolve the bani walid conflict peacefully the proposal however was blocked by the u.s. which took part in the bombing campaign last year under the guise of protecting civilians from gadhafi. reports from new york. while the united nations has focused much attention this week on the ongoing conflicts in syria and mali russia's efforts to address the death and destruction taking place in libya

was blocked by the united states washington refused to support a security council press statement drafted by russia calling for the resolution of violence in bani walid which has been under siege for weeks the u.s. delegation cited a further need for consultations but meanwhile the russian ambassador to the u.n. churkin says that it's quite strange the u.s. would have a lock a press statement condemning the use of force in dealing with libya's political problems just one month after i deadly attack in benghazi claimed the lives of four diplomats ambassador churkin said it is difficult in this case to explain the u.s. delegations actions in a rational terms now russia has dropped her statement calls on the libyan authorities to take urgent steps to resolve the conflict by peaceful means and to preserve the rights of all libyan citizens that also expressed concern about the significant escalation of violence in and around the city of bani walid well she's

keeping a close eye on the violence around bani walid and we'll keep you up to date with developments in and around the besieged town. the latest piece of a serious fell apart this week with at least two terrible mings the largest attack took place in the capital damascus where at least five people were killed and many more injured by a car bomb explosion that happened during a proposed a four day cease fire to melt the muslim one of the which some rebel groups such as the radical nusra front rejected outright another call to carry on fighting came from the leader of al qaeda who criticized world leaders for their grip on the syrian regime has not talked to political analysts dr randy short for me live now from washington d.c. just tell feasible was that truce initiative in the first place with an extremist group fighting on the rebel side refusing to accept it well it shows. that backers

of these extremist groups have no control of them and since they are being supported by these out of control gulf states the united states and its nato allies they want the assad regime destroyed at any cost and the rebels know it so why should they on any seeing and if you just look at the between of dharma and this month's trustee romney where you have these two people some of dying for heads of state trying to do anything they can to destroy the government in syria so the moral support to t.c.'s nazi is not on this so you mentioned the interests of foreign powers at play here but what about locked up rahimi his he of course is the envoy and now his international efforts are they actually being undermined though by the foreign extremists we're now seeing in the country. they've always been i he's almost is sincerely just a sick sick man but it's too late he's putting his finger in the dikes and it's he

doesn't have enough fingers or nothing hands of when you put this amount of money and arms on the table with the kind of conflict it's the dispersant was late good will may share from the quest of the un that destroyed libya at least and has supported the attacks on iraq they have no moral authority dare responsible for the crisis in the region. what about rival sectarian groups from iraq to be increasing involved in the syrian conflict on various sides is this another sign of the escalation of the the syrian. yes it is with some can see us sink about the new bombing sit up clearing in syria now also remember that there's there's no lonell this among the sunni or the seat there's a fall out between some of looked out to outsiders people so that a range of people there and then we must remember that the shia have the equivalent and i tell

a cut khamenei the cauldron of the pope deciding to protect the highest authority and shias and they see the attack on assad is let's act on their religion and the case of the sunnis they are possibly siding to at least have an ally something on their side because they're unhappy about the salt out after saddam hussein was removed and the rise of maliki so there all these other things going on to swallow some sunni kurds who will get a slice of the kurds because they want to distend you've got turkmen who are devout if the people get too strong the turks i'm in a persecuted by the kurds in northern iraq so you have all these different stakeholders druze students al always who are concerned but they do know the minorities snow these days horrible suneet that out. being supported by the u.s. and its its its allies comes tower there will be a terror a terror unlike anything seen in syria and the levers been there before so you're

going to find a lot of people citing what about the role of al-qaeda here very recently reiterated that support for the syrian rebels what does that she do for the image of the syrian opposition and its cause well it shows said that they're not good people and that the devil that they know assad has to be better than whatever they want to propose so they tend to lean toward see the need for a softer libya answer as sovereign syrian state with their working out a political solution but not through bringing all these terrorists and selassie monsters right judging what you just confirmed then you're saying you'd be better for a sad stay in power to prevent extremists such as al qaida vying for a political vacuum that should arise if he goes exactly because if you ask me it looks as if al qaeda is another division of the american military that gives them the excuse to attack and brutalize us smaller nations in the world's political

analyst dr randy short thank you very much and a very interesting here your thoughts on this tony is live there in washington. tens of thousands of protesters filled the streets of italy and spain on saturday in anger of a tough economic measures being forced upon them to show discontent turned ugly in a northern the town in town where police used tear gas and buttons to disperse the crowds and salty sara firth reports the struggling public is still determined to get its message heard. hitting back at a stair it's a people over a year to continuing to fight against this in measures that are biting deeper and deeper into the public and private purpose of many usa nations clashes with police break out in the north of italy of thousands marched against the government in the capital reign in what was dubbed anti monte de similar things we witnessed in the great west bank is turned on the us to rally against never ending government cuts

we feel like we are now under a percentage by our government that they are doing this that we are no we don't agree with them and we are telling them on the diamond but they don't listen as their sturdy anger spread across year thousands of people have taken to the street and it's not just in madrid for in greece to italy big you're using countries and small this is a euro crisis that doesn't discriminate affecting people of all ages and from all walks of life. here in spain the unemployment figures now top a whopping twenty five percent this is a younger generation that's been hit the hardest if you look at the stats for the country you see the half the sixteen to twenty four year olds in the house of work everything you sing preceding unemployment poverty. the ferns. in people here police offices. dividing the protestors from the governments that

more and more they grow into low youth that of g.t.a. you'll find many of them joining the march is even lower than foresman a feeling the pinch the need amongst many protesters is greg they've been here many times before and still they tell us nothing seems to change. his attitude not to cut their spending but to invest more in the economy to invest in growth to make sure that there are jobs and the only way to ultimately. get out of this is to grow not just cut your way out of court so one of the main arguments of the people here is that this if you actually listen to the people who are not too good interest from abroad you will come up with a lot more sensible a lot more rational response to this kind of a dogmatic insistence on austerity has seen successive governments across the isolated from their electorates and amongst the euro members themselves divisions a widening a spain's witnessing fierce independence movement catalonia in the basque country

those demanding freedom and electing separatist politicians meanwhile greece is fighting an upsurge of radical nationalist sentiment that's leading to the growth of far right and fascist great scenes like these make it hard to believe that earlier this month the e.u. was awarded the neighbor peace prize bringing stability and unity to the previously want to own continent some protesters are calling it a social must with a massive euro wide strike planned for later this month it seems as long as things continue as they are there will be no peace here so if r.t. . this is the weekly or an r.t. coming up later in the program voting in ukraine promises to trump a few surprises heavyweights from the worlds of politics and boxing try to make their way into parliament correspondent in kiev and bring us the latest from the exit polls after a short break. nineteen

iranian channels have been banned in the country's that's called iran for not tolerating free speech among other things well played lads well played i love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning personally but of censorship doesn't bother me. that much because there has always been censorship and there were always be censorship if there are any words or symbols or opinions that could get you bumped off the air or legal trouble in your country then guess what you have censorship sorry to say it but that's how it is i don't mind a country saying that there is something so antithetical to their way of life that it must be banned i'm fine with that that's your business in your country and you should be able to protect your culture and your values but they'll lie to me and tell me that you live censorship free when you don't it's your choice you let your

reading channels back on the air or come out of the closet and admit you believe in restricted speech but that's just my opinion. wealthy british style sun. sometimes. free. markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cons a report on our. north coast terrorist attack. ex hostages blindness into their lives after the tragedy. still gets try to cross out the past. because their future will yet be written. do we speak the language of the will or not of their. news programs and documentaries in spanish matters to you breaking news

a little too late if angle stories. are you here. to teach spanish find out more visit i. teach. weekly continues here and all the polls have closed in ukraine in parliamentary elections which could pose problems for the country's president viktor yanukovych the opposition is planning to impeach him if they wouldn't off seats another surprise is the presence of a form of boxing champion and his policy which is being tipped to pack enough political punch to change the landscape dramatically. qualities alexy yes yes he is in ukraine's capital kiev alexey voting is over one of the exit polls suggesting. all the exit polls suggesting that we may be in for something very radical change of power in ukraine in particular because as it stands the find bodies which are making it into the parliament they will most likely form

a new coalition saturday unlikely that the ruling party will continue having its majority has been having for the last two or three years or so because of the opposition has been saying that has soon as it gets the majority in the new parliament it will be impeached president again the goal of it's the biggest question now in the biggest simply is whether the former boxing champion television for his own political party has managed to get have very impressive results according to the exit polls with about fifteen percent whether he will be able where they can be willing to join the opposition and the opposition which is led by the jail to hold the prime minister of ukraine. thus they will have the majority in parliament and they will be able to impeach the president. that is the result of the proportional receipts in parliament the situation may change if the majority recedes provides us with a big tree for the ruling party but that such course will be clear within the next

two or three days the coaching itself as we understand has been pretty much free of any major violations that have been several of the very minor incidents but mostly it's been about areas jokes which the ukrainians couple had stationed at one polling station in kiev and man dressed as. santa cast his ballot at another polling station to. try to eat his ballots estie was casting his ballot so ukrainians have been very much a pathetic towards this voting despite the high turnout still the general public has been very much in a dissipative of this election and we are expecting of course changes to happen if the current that's the results prove to be correct in the long run but we will certainly we're waiting what's the official results will be and we will deliver them to our two suicides we get them within the next several days. thanks very much

indeed for that live update in kiev alexina shift. well to the u.s. now where this week failed to bring any clarity as to who is likely to be the next president the democrat and republican candidates are effectively neck and neck some diversity was brought into the race by the third party debates which offered a different slant on the key issues in the l a t was one of the very few media outlets taking any notice here are some of the highlights. the president has assumed dictatorial rights to put us in prison at his pleasure without charge or without trial we are on the road toward to him and that's not an exaggeration the biggest threat to our national security is the fact that we're bankrupt we need to retrench rather than trying to be the policeman of the world we need to put an end to the use of drones and actually lead not to lead this development of

a new arms race but to lead in an international treaty and the convention to permanently banned the use of drones we're printing and borrowing money to the tune of forty three cents out of every dollar we spend. sixteen trillion dollars is bearing. add as governor johnson say and we could well be you know like germany after world war i the final face off for the third party presidential candidates will be brought to exclusively by r.t. in a week's time the two front runners came together for their third debate this week focusing on u.s. foreign policy but those who were expecting some frank logical exchanges were left disappointed with barack obama and mitt romney once again displaying striking similarities u.s. foreign policy analysts calling and explains the reasons behind that. one of the mistakes that people make is that they think that this is a debate between two men and i think what's important to do is to see who basically

are the groups of advisors and a group of people behind the president and the groups of people behind romney are really the same people who bought us the iraq war and they're of the called the neo conservatives they want a much more aggressive foreign policy but americans don't want that a majority of americans don't want to fight a war with iran seventy percent of them don't want to do it unilaterally americans want to cut military spending that's what the polls show so what what romney had to do was to sort of back away from a lot of those positions except on military spending and seemed much more reasonable and sort of centrist if he sort of plays out what's really in his cards i think it into scaring a lot of people and they end up losing votes and so that was part of what was going on there he was trying to move more toward obama and so there wasn't a debate. and special coverage of the u.s. presidential campaign will continue on air and online introducing

a fresh perspective on the race starting this coming monday will be exploring america's domestic policies and challenges in depth stay with r.t. for that. what lies ahead for occupy will the movements mobilize calls for a new america who stands for the ninety nine percent u.s. election a close guide monday to the twenty ninth on r.t. . other international news now at least five people have been killed and twenty five wounded in a powerful blast outside a sunni muslim shrine in northwest pakistan a senior police officer was among those injured no one has claimed responsibility so far but some militant movements including the taliban have been blamed for previous attacks of this kind. china's eastern city of has put a halt to planned street spand a chemical plant after a week long protests it's the latest in a series of rallies against the pollution caused by factories in the country there were loud cheers when an official statement was read out announcing the move for

the protests but mostly peaceful there were reports of violence scuffles and attacks on the. east coast of the u.s. is brace for hurricane sandy which is due to hit on monday night it's already left over sixty people dead in the caribbean widespread disruption is expected with all schools in new york to be shut down. but you're up to date for the moment in just a couple of minutes r.t. talked to u.k. based economist mark littlewood about what he thinks should be done to heal europe's ailing finances stay with us for that. which is slow often enough and knows that to ride a horse you've got to catch it first.

for him it's a daily routine that you're soft as a horse breeder on the island of a horn at the heart of bike all his life on an isolated farm is about blue sky green grass and horses what sometimes it gets lonely here but horses have become part of me now i've fallen off so many times sometimes that bites as well it's part of my everyday life. i holmes been home to it rats locally just laugh for centuries most still live off the land of cattle and fish every evening local villagers place their nets and in the morning the catch is always good. we always have enough here. if by coal is often called the pearl of siberia i horn i said to be the pearl of by

call it's all end of fake forests. and vast steps. it's also a place of traditions respected by locals and travelers alike. an economist turned adventurer has crisscrossed by call shores and learned its customs well. you see pillars like this and thought to have supernatural powers every traveler who comes here asks a. spirits to make their journey easier give them strength and fulfill their dearest wishes virtually undiscovered by tourists until some twenty years ago i was cornish quickly become a magnet for nature lovers and thrill seekers but those used to five star pampering maybe end for a surprise the island's infrastructure has yet to catch up with the growing demand

here quite some way from civilization here accommodation on the island is very basic so you can forget about a t.v. or even running water for most people a tent is there on the eruption but for those who come here it's exactly what they're looking for. you believe you need to buy coal can be unique trip of a lifetime and the locals say once you've seen it you'll be coming back again and again. i with my little words.